Top 5 Healthy Christmas snacks

Christmas is a time when tradition dictates that we treat ourselves and our families. We don’t want to fill ourselves up with too many rich pastries, biscuits, cakes and puddings over the Christmas period but we want to spoil ourselves and our families, and there’s nothing wrong in that. There is a way to enjoy the pleasures of Christmas foods and keep yourself and your family healthy and happy.

Here’s my pick of the 5 most yummiest and healthiest Christmas snacks that my children and I are going to be making this Christmas.1. Christmas pinwheels

Method
• Beat together the cream cheese and yogurt until smooth
• Add the red pepper and frozen peas and mix well
• Spread the mix across each of the flour tortilla and roll up tightly in cling film
• Refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours
• Slice in ½ inch pieces to create festive looking red and green pinwheels

Method
• Thoroughly was the carrots and parsnip
• Top and tail the baby carrots and cut in half
• Peel the parsnip and cut into strips, discarding the central hard portion
• Steam the vegetables for 3 to 4 minutes
• Place the steamed vegetables in a frying pan with a small amount of oil and dribble with honey
• Fry for 3 to 4 minutes or until soft

3. Crackers about Snowman

Ingredients
• Box of round wholegrain crackers such as Ritz
• Pack of low fat cream cheese
• Frozen diced vegetables that have been lightly steamed
• Sliced red and green peppersMethod
• Spread the cream cheese on top of the cracker
• Get your child to for the snowman’s face and ‘hair’ with any combination of the frozen vegetables
• Add a little red or green pepper slice for a scarf

Method
• Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a bowl and beat together with the butter, eggs and vanilla essence until smooth
• Stir in the flour and oats
• Drop teaspoon-sized ‘blobs’ onto the oiled baking sheet or you could roll the dough flat so your children could cut out Christmas shapes to decorate
• Bake the shapes or ‘blobs’ at 180 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown

Method
• Spread the pecan nuts on a baking sheet and bake at 180°C for 6 to 8 minutes until lightly toasted
• Once toasted, grind the pecan in a food processor, adding 1/3 of the icing sugar
• Add the cold butter, salt and vanilla essence and blend before adding the flour
• Add flour and mix until a dough forms
• Roll out the dough into 1” balls and place on an oiled baking sheet
• Bake at 160°C for approximately 20 minutes or until the balls are dry and lightly browned
• Allow to cool
• Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in the microwave (High for 1 minute, stir and melt for further 30 seconds)
• Use the melted chocolate to ‘sandwich’ together two cookies until all are paired up
• Refrigerate until the chocolate hardens, then roll your snowballs in a bowl with the remaining icing sugar (or desicated coconut if you prefer) to form a light dusting of ‘snow’

Enjoy your Christmas. Enjoy your food. Choose the healthy option rather than the extra bowl of trifle or Christmas pud. I intend to make sure my family have a wonderful Christmas meal without feeding them lettice and dry crackers. Use your own common sense and don’t over indulge and you will find that counting calories will be the last thing on your mind.